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bamaranger · December 25, 2024, 04:31 AM

I had to look up what a Moss173B actually was. What I (we) had was the 3 shot 183, also in .410, with a PolyChoke up front. I shot my first (and second) rabbit with that gun......then the forward section of the PolyChoke flew off when my Dad shot it, to never be seen again. Dad took the little shotgun back to the country store where he bought it, worked out a deal for a replacement gun a, detachable box magazine Savage, which broke an extractor
in pretty short order after a season or two.

The diminutive .410 shell took a truckload of bunnies for us. Dad and I both had .410 guns for rabbit hunting. The shell we used was the 3 inch version with #7-1/2 shot. We never fooled with the short 2-1/2" shell and its tiny payload. We never fooled with any other shot size either. Any load with bigger pellets just did not produce a decent pattern to kill well much past VERY short range. The 3 inch shell and #7-1/2 turned the .410 into a decent bunny gun for where we hunted and ahead of beagles. Good times gone by.

Those old bolt shotguns were pretty common, in all gauges. Most of my school age hunting friends had some version of one. That or a single barrel of some variety, also very common. Much envied was anybody with a Savage 311 SXS or a Mossberg 500 pump. Most kids all started with those cheap barn guns and bought better guns for themselves once they got a job.

December 25, 2024, 04:31 AM	#2
bamaranger Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2009 Location: North Alabama Posts: 8,802	memory lane I had to look up what a Moss173B actually was. What I (we) had was the 3 shot 183, also in .410, with a PolyChoke up front. I shot my first (and second) rabbit with that gun......then the forward section of the PolyChoke flew off when my Dad shot it, to never be seen again. Dad took the little shotgun back to the country store where he bought it, worked out a deal for a replacement gun a, detachable box magazine Savage, which broke an extractor in pretty short order after a season or two. The diminutive .410 shell took a truckload of bunnies for us. Dad and I both had .410 guns for rabbit hunting. The shell we used was the 3 inch version with #7-1/2 shot. We never fooled with the short 2-1/2" shell and its tiny payload. We never fooled with any other shot size either. Any load with bigger pellets just did not produce a decent pattern to kill well much past VERY short range. The 3 inch shell and #7-1/2 turned the .410 into a decent bunny gun for where we hunted and ahead of beagles. Good times gone by. Those old bolt shotguns were pretty common, in all gauges. Most of my school age hunting friends had some version of one. That or a single barrel of some variety, also very common. Much envied was anybody with a Savage 311 SXS or a Mossberg 500 pump. Most kids all started with those cheap barn guns and bought better guns for themselves once they got a job.